Photo Diary - Video 16th Sept

We have a bit of history with the Abbey theatre, our national theatre. I say a bit of history, but I really mean just that, not in a 'wow shit went down' sense, but more in the historical sense. Hog started out there, on the main stage in 1996 in a play called 'She stoops to folly'.

A staggering 21 years later, in 2017, we chanced our arm, and asked the organisers of the Dublin fringe festival to see if we could perform our show there. Why you ask? WHY!!! let me try and explain...

So, comedy is an outsider artform, its pokes fun at the establishment, the norms, the accepted and especially that which takes itself too seriously. And the theatre world takes itself far too seriously. The abbey is the home of theatre in Ireland, and performing comedy sketches there, amidst its splendor and esteem, felt like anti establishment. This is something the audience are aware of, maybe not consciously  but they know, sitting in fine seats with cups of red wine, that there is something bold going on. The bold boys are in the good room. 

At first, the Dublin fringe were skeptical, but in fairness, the Abbey thought it was a great idea. However they had no free slots. So we came up with an idea... that we could perform  on the set that was already in place for the play preceding our show. The play, Katie Roche, (we never got to see it unfortunately) had an austere set, grey, towering, with an alter in the middle -  a post apocalyptic concrete interior of some sort. It also had a moat of muck. Yes, around the stage, there was a moat of muck, about 2 foot wide and 2 foot deep and very very mucky. None of this bothered us, we thought "what the hell, there'll be loads to mess around with here." The abbey obviously thought the same because with a week to go to the show, we get an email from the stage manager via Duck. It confirms the layout of the stage, and a few other things, but amidst all of this there is an odd request: 'Can you please ask the lads not to throw the muck at the audience.' They actually asked this. I mean, WHO would throw muck at an audience? WHAT do they think of comedians? REALLY? I mean, we like to get in amongst the crowd, mess with their bags, wear their coats and all that, we like to INVOLVE them, but not in some sort of dirty protest. 

So on the first night of the run, we told this story in the crowd before we went on stage, which went down great, (the stage manager took it well) they laughed at how ludicrous the email had been. Then we announced ourselves and ran onstage and immediately, myself and Hog, as only performers who've spent over 10 years together had the same idea, we both instantly grabbed fist fulls of muck and made to throw it at the front row.   I still laugh thinking about their faces as they cowered, and the watery eyes we had for about 10 minutes afterwards. I remember catching Hogs eye midway through a sketch when he was off stage, still laughing. We did it every night after that.

So, fast forward four years and here we are in 2021, looking to rent costumes from them, and they...they gave them to us... no questions asked (we paid them).  Costumes, meant for proper theatre productions, worth hundreds and we're using them to take the piss. It feels really good, like we're doing something right. 

Arms

https://www.abbeytheatre.ie/archives/person_detail/11592/